Massive crackdown underway in Ethiopia

The Horn Times Newsletter July 28, 2013
by Getahune Bekele, South Africa
Massive crackdown underway on opposition stronghold of South Wollo, Ethiopia
It was a pre-dawn assault by hundreds of heavily armed federal police members backed by pro-TPLF local militia on the opposition UDJP strong hold of South Wollo province.
According to Finotenetsanet newspaper reporters, yesterday’s dawn- to- dusk raid targeted the twin towns of Haiq and Worebabu; and more heavy handed attacks are set to continue in other nearby towns and villages of the historic province.
Worebabu area UDJP leader Ato Edris Saed told Finotenetsanet that the police tried to disguise their act by telling people that they are looking for weapons.
Arage Hussein, UDJP’s financial officer in the town of Haiq said the police and the feared local militia searched the homes of all 16 members of UDJP leadership, each search lasting for up to two hours and more.
“I pleaded with the five police men and the militias who came to my home at dawn that I am a man of peace and never owned a firearm but they proceeded with the search and left empty-handed.” Ato Arage Added.
Moreover, according to South Wollo zone UDJP chairman Ato Bisrat Abi, the ruling party is on a campaign trail in the area, on a burgeoning run to discredit the UDJP leadership and its members. TPLF cadres have already organized anti UDJP meetings and demonstrations as part of the well planned crack down on dissenting voices in the region.
“Since the recent mass anti TPLF rallies organized in Dessie and Gonder cities, UDJP has been on the rise. The ruling junta’s cadres now have an implacable enemy right under their noses with the potential of bringing down the conjugal dictatorship. Therefore, I see it as normal for the authoritarian and corruption-ridden regime to wage an all-out war on the UDJP.” A respected political analyst who requested anonymity told the Horn Times from Addis Ababa.
Asked if UDJP has any chance of surviving the onslaught with no international support, with western powers still generously endowing the ruling minority junta; turning a blind eye on its undemocratic practices, the elderly analyst said it is up to the people of Ethiopia to rally around the party and its young and energetic leadership.
“Look, we all thought UDJP was hanging on life support system after the loss of its patriotic leaders in Andualem Arage and Natinael Mekonnen. Am astonished by how the current young leaders filled the leadership vacuum and make the party grow from strength to strength. I hope they will keep the momentum, keep the pressure on the junta and get serious violations and abuses such as this one in south Wollo quickly to the media. We are in better times today than yesterday.”
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The implications of politicized education for academic freedom in Ethiopia

by Semahagn Gashu Abebe (PhD)

Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway
Despite the formal recognition of fundamental human rights and freedoms under the 1995 Ethiopian constitution, freedom of association and expression have been seriously restricted in Ethiopia in the last few years. Particularly after the controversial general elections in 2005, the Ethiopian regime has used different pretexts to restrict freedom of association and expression. For instance, the regime passed a new charity law that prohibits local civil society groups from engaging in the promotion of human rights and democratic rights.1 In addition to this, the regime has enacted a sweeping Anti-Terrorism Law that targets political opponents, human rights activists and journalists. 2
Why has the country’s democratic transformation and protection of human rights deteriorated even by African standards? Many Western observers of the Ethiopian situation do not have a deep insight into the nature of the current regime and its ideology. Despite the problems posed by the absence of a democratic culture and the existence of poverty in the country, currently the most serious impediments to democratization and protection of human rights in Ethiopia are the leftist ideological tendencies of the ruling Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Despite the party’s outward recognition of fundamental human rights and democratic values, it runs the country with leftist-oriented ideological principles that largely contradict the principles of freedom and democracy recognized under the constitution. One of the major ideological policies pursued by the regime is a revolutionary democracy that does not permit the existence of any independent institutions in the country or any real separation of powers, since all institutions of government are ideologically entrenched in the state apparatus. In addition, the political space has been further restricted in Ethiopia since the 2005 general election through the reinvention of the ‘developmental state model’. The model presupposes the wider role and competence of the government in controlling social, economic and political measures to realize economic prosperity.
The ideological policies adopted by the regime have affected academic freedom and the quality of education in Ethiopia. Since universities have been historically epicentres for political movements, EPRDF has used different mechanisms to stifle political movements in higher education institutions. One of the serious measures undertaken by the regime to weaken academic freedom in the country was to dismiss 41 highly qualified professors from Addis Ababa University in 1993. The professors were expelled from their work due to their critical opinions on the country’s political situation. The regime has also prevented any move to make the universities autonomous in administering their own affairs. To this day, university presidents and other university officials are directly appointed by the Prime Minister rather than elected by the university community. The major task of the university officials is basically to hamper any political movement in the universities rather than working to bring about quality of education. 3
The regime also controls the content of classroom sessions through its party networks in the universities. Government officials have publicly stated that teachers do not have the right to say anything outside the issues indicated in the curriculum.4 This has created an overwhelming burden on teachers to apply self-censorship to avoid reprisal from the regime. In high schools and primary schools, teachers are openly required to be members of EPRDF. There are cases where teachers who refused to be members of the party have lost their job. In the last five years, university students have been told that they will not be employed by government agencies unless they become members of EPRDF.5 Since the government is the major employer in the country, students are therefore obliged to register for party membership. Once they become party members, they stop criticizing the government and are expected to spy on their teachers and other students who are not friendly to the regime. Such systematic application of party ideology has seriously undermined academic freedom and quality of education in the country and injected an atmosphere of fear in the education system. Unless the regime guarantees administrative autonomy to the universities and refrains from politicizing education, the quality of education in the country will further deteriorate in the coming years leading to a deeper social and political crisis.

1. In February 2009 the Ethiopian parliament passed into law the Charities and Societies Proclamation (No.621/2009). The law places severe administrative restrictions on the work of human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Ethiopia. Only Ethiopian charities and societies may work on human rights issues in Ethiopia. International NGOs are prohibited from working on them. The law also explicitly prohibits Ethiopian charities or societies who may work on human rights from receiving more than ten percent of their funding from foreign sources. Since many of the local charities are supported by international donors, the law has practically banned the former from engaging in human rights activities.

2. In 2009 a controversial anti-terrorism law was established in Ethiopia. The law criminalises any contact or reporting that encourages individuals or groups which the government labelled ‘terrorists.’ By broadly defying acts of terrorism, the Ethiopian government is using the law to crack down on journalists and opposition leaders who are critical of the regime. Several journalists and opposition political leaders are currently serving long prison sentences after they have been charged with terrorism related charges.

3. See The 2006 U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78734.htm

4. See The anguish of higher education students in Ethiopia, http://freedomfororomo.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/the-anguish-of-higher-education-students-in-ethiopia/; The Unhappy Legacy of Meles Zenawi, Freedom House, August 22, 2012, http://www.freedomhouse.org/blog/unhappy-legacy-meles-zenawi; Alemayehu G. Mariam, Ethiopia: Indoctri-Nation, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ethiopia-indoctri-nation_b_706199.html

5. See The anguish of higher education students in Ethiopia, http://freedomfororomo.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/the-anguish-of-higher-education-students-in-ethiopia/; The Unhappy Legacy of Meles Zenawi, Freedom House, August 22, 2012, http://www.freedomhouse.org/blog/unhappy-legacy-meles-zenawi; Alemayehu G. Mariam, Ethiopia: Indoctri-Nation, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ethiopia-indoctri-nation_b_706199.html

Tracing Woyane’s Anti-Ethiopianism to the Italo-Ethiopian War

by Selam Beyene, PhD

Ethiopian infantrymen during battle. Oct 1935. PHOTO AP

The history of Ethiopia is replete with contradictions and paradoxes. There are accounts galore of heroism and meekness, patriotism and treachery, devotion and apathy, and, above all, fear of God and acts of brutality in that ancient country. These chronicles may help provide clues about the root causes of the Woyane anti-Ethiopia schema and the appropriate plan of action needed to deracinate them.
By anti-Ethiopianism we purport the systematic and government-sanctioned weakening of the national fabric by pitting one ethnic group against another, as was witnessed recently in such areas as Benishangul-Gumuz and Gura Ferda zones. Anti-Ethiopianism is the appalling government policy of dislocating natives from their ancestral lands and transferring national wealth to foreigners at dirt cheap prices. It is anti-Ethiopianism to frame a constitution whose central object is to promote the disintegration and land-lockedness of the country.  Most importantly, anti-Ethiopianism implies the deviant system of government under which all major economic, political and military institutions are controlled by the minority Woyane group, and through which fundamental human rights are suppressed and the people are denied their basic rights to participate in free and fair elections.
Confucius sagaciously advised: “Study the past if you would define the future.” Accordingly, when we consider the current predicaments of the country, which are characterized by ethnocentrism, totalitarianism, corruption, nepotism and absence of a feeling of Ethiopian patriotism amongst the rulers; and, most importantly, when we search for a viable solution to them, we should go no further for clues and explanations than the recent past events, beginning with the invasion of Italy in 1935-1940.
Much has been documented about the infamous Fascist aggression by notable Ethiopian and Western historians, journalists and novelists, as well as other writers who had taken active parts in the actual war. While well-researched history books and journal articles may serve as the ultimate sources for academic exercise, there is considerable information that may be gleaned from anecdotal accounts narrated by individuals based on their personal experiences. In this regard, we are fortunate to have at our disposal now the writings of three foreigners who had the opportunity to witness firsthand the savagery of the Fascist aggression, the heroism of the Ethiopian fighters, and the betrayal by local collaborators.

Photos of Basha Asress Tessema (Meles Zenawi’s grandfather) flanked by a soldier of Mussolini

The three foreigners, whose paths had crossed several times in the battles of Tembien, Maichew and other fronts, had fought on the side of Ethiopia under the leaderships of such eminent Ethiopians as Ras Kassa Hailu Darge, Ras Seyoum Mengesha and Ras Mulugeta Yiggezu, the War Minister. In so doing, they were able to record considerable historical data and to leave behind intriguing accounts of bravery and treachery that could inform present and future researchers seeking answers to some of the most complex questions about present-day Ethiopia. Most importantly, they provide critical insights into the underlying reasons for the anti-Ethiopian agenda Zenawi and his Woyane entourage successfully exploited to catapult themselves to power; the continued damage to the long-term viability of the country that is caused by the misguided fiscal, economic, educational and military policies implemented by the TPLF-led regime; and the institutionalization of ethnic-based governance that is portentously promoted to nurture inter-ethnic animosity among brothers and sisters who have lived in relative harmony for many centuries.
Recently, the works of two of the foreigners were made accessible to Amharic readers. The first, ቀይ አንበሳ (Alpha, 2003) was translated by Tesfaye M. Bayileyegn from the original narration of Colonel Alejandro del Valle1. The second book, የሃበሻ ጀብዱ (AAU Press, 2010), is a translation by Techane J. Mekonnen based on Adolf Parlesack’s memoir in Czech entitled Habesska Odyssea (Praha : Panorama, 1989). The third, and most controversial, memoir was written by Colonel Feodor Konovalov, a Russian military adviser to Ras Seyoum Mengesha and other leaders. While there is no accessible Amharic translation of Konovalov’s writings, relevant excerpts are available in various sources (see, e.g., Clarke III, 2008 2).
Excepting a few and infrequent inconsistencies among the renditions of the three foreigners about shared events that they had jointly witnessed, there is a remarkable degree of consistency in their accounts of the breathtaking gallantry of Ethiopian fighters, as well as the distressingly heartrending treachery of domestic collaborators, especially from Tigray, Rayya, and Azebo regions, in the early days of the war.

Who were they then? Who are they now?

Gebremedhin Araya, Perth, Australia
Translated by Yinegal Belachew, Ethiopia
Note from the translator ‘the hyena’s belly?’
It’s good to hear something from the horse’s mouth. This vitally important piece of my fellow Ethiopian, Gebre Medhin Araya, was written in Amharic and posted on some Ethiopian opposition websites. This article is all about the genocidal nature of TPLF, Tigrian People’s Liberation Front. The translation of this article is all about exposing the satanic behavior of this mafia before the English speaking Ethiopians, and, needless to go to that sensitive historical section, of course, if they wish before the “International Community” whose intrinsic interest seems to be all about happily observing an ethnic cleansing, especially of the ill-fated Amharas in Ethiopia. This hero, one of my Tigrian gods, a man who liberated himself from mundane ethnocentric and sanguineous fetters, had been one among the ‘Founding Fathers’ of TPLF and well knows the purpose of the establishment of this historically anti-Ethiopian and anti-Amhara group of amoral creatures. But as soon as he came to realize that the majority of the people in the leadership of TPLF were anti-Ethiopians, he left the group and united his efforts with Ethiopian forces to save the nation from the threat these crooked citizens posed. Now he is abroad trying his level best to salvage his nation from these historic enemies. The registration and documentation section of Ethiopia will remember him forever. The original title of this Amharic article was “እነማን ነበሩ? አሁንስ ማን ናቸው?”.
My incapability to properly understand something of the original article or any emotion-laden unintentional detour from the original shouldn’t implicate the writer of the article to any of the wrongs I may exhibit in this endeavor. Therefore, I take all the blame for all the mistakes in this translation. I tried to use formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence in translating. I wish you good appetite, genuine Jobic patience, and healthy conscience to have good understanding and the necessary change of outlook or attitude thereof, if need be.
Sorry for the delaying preamble, now the translation follows…
This article tries to dig out and show who the TPLF leaders were and still are along with their insincere plan to destroy Christendom and Islam religions and especially the Amhara ethnic group as of the commencement by the group (TPLF) of the armed struggle in Tigray.

Gebremedhin Araya former TPLF head of finance

From the very beginning, TPLF has utterly been undemocratic by its nature. I myself have been expressing in different media outlets that this mercenary group was and still is anti-Ethiopia and inhuman in general. Though the people of Ethiopia well know the nature of TPLF with regard to its nihilistic and destructive behavior, on my behalf, I would like to give some factual accounts as to how it has been trying to destroy the pillars of both religions based on its anti-religion policy.

Anti-expatriate propaganda and racist cartoon against Ethiopians in Arab News should come to a stop now

Dear Sirs, Greetings from India,
I am shocked and appalled at the ongoing continuous propaganda in Arab News via cartoon of Abdullah Sayel, who makes racists comments in the cartoon that is seen each day in Arab News which has editors who have no common sense of selection as they are very poor in English except one or to who are the best.
As a senior newspaper editor, I concur with many Saudi, Indian and Pakistani friends that the cartoons are indeed very bad in taste and has touch of racism in it. Why this propaganda against the Ethiopian brothers and sisters and that too in the blessed month of Ramadan?
I really fail to understand the logic and stand of Arab News of embarking on this systematic hate campaign against the Ethiopians. Why the once upon a time good newspaper has suddenly become hostile towards the expatriates?
Last week Arab News launched a tirade against the Indians advocating the Saudis to get rid of the Indians.Then it started campaign against the poor Bangladeshis labeling them as dreaded criminals, followed by hate against the Pakistanis referring to them as robbers and thieves, and now the Ethiopians. Why all this anger, hate, and spitting of venom against the poor expatriates? Then Arab News protested that the expatriates had remitted 40 billion riyals to their countries, which is a sheer nonsense. Ok, what’s wrong if they remitted. They had slogged hard to earn that money and send it back home to their families and children. They did not send the money robbing or killing anyone. They had every right to send their hard earned money to their families.
May be what comes to my mind, would be to please the government. But then this is extremely cruel and bad on part of the newspaper, which it should not do.